Unapproved GM strain blocking corn shipments from US to China

China's quarantine authorities have rejected more than 1.2 million metric tons of American corn after detecting an unapproved genetically modified strain in shipments, with buyers shifting to cheaper grain from other markets.

As of June 16, quarantine authorities had detected the MIR 162 strain, one that has yet to be approved by the country's agricultural authorities, in about 1.25 million tons of corn shipped from the US and rejected all of it, said Lu Chunming, spokesman for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, at a news conference on Monday.

The MIR 162 strain was first detected in a shipment at a port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, last October.